1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the structure of a pedal, such as an accelerator, clutch, or brake pedal for a vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to a vibration proofing pedal structure for a vehicle to which a mass having a preselected weight is attached to absorb vibration transmitted from the engine and/or the transmission so as to preventing such vibrations from being transmitted to the driver.
2. Background Art
Usually, an accelerator pedal for a vehicle serves to adjust an opening of a throttle valve by depressing a pedal pad to control engine speed. The pedal pad is attached to a lower end portion of a pedal arm which is pivotably supported by a vehicle body through a bracket and an upper end portion of which is connected to an operation rod extending to the engine. A clutch pedal has the same construction as that of the acceleration pedal and is adapted for engaging or disengaging power between the transmission and the engine.
However, in the above pedal structure, since the pedal is connected to the engine via the operating rod, vibration tends to be transmitted to a drivers foot while the vehicle is running, thereby frequently giving an unpleasant feeling to the driver.
In order to absorb this pedal vibration, a pedal arm is generally well known in the art on which a mass is welded to prevent the arm from vibrating. In this structure, an additional manufacturing step is necessary for welding the mass to the pedal arm. Additionally, due to variations in manufactured pedal arms, the resonance frequencies thereof are different from each other as are the differences in the resonating frequencies of various engines, dependent on the type of vehicle.
Thus, to attach a mass suitable for absorbing the proper vibration frequencies for various types of vehicles, masses having different weights are accordingly necessary. In manufacture, this results in a disadvantage in that a uniform mounting operation cannot be easily adopted.